So I want to tell you about my party last night. There is a National Direct Sales Trainer that is telling people paper invitations are a thing of the past. She is literally telling them NOT to mail invitations. To use Twitter, Instagram, FB, and text instead. Well….I beg to differ! In a HUGE way! So let me tell you why you SHOULD mail invitations.

My party last night:

12 guests who varied from late 20’s to age 70.

In my hostess packet, my hostess gets a sheet of address labels. She also gets a self stamped and addressed envelope to easily mail them back to me. I have always told them they get $5 off their order if they mail them back to me.

Now…just lately, I started really working on getting my guest attendance AND sales up. And this is what I came up with:

Stickers! Lots of them!

So I mail a mini catalog. On the front, there is a circle sticker that explains they will get a gift if they help their hostess and collect $50 in outside orders (from their friends and family) and bring them to the party.

The small rectangle sticker, says…bring this invitation to the party. If your number is called, you win a free gift!

And then the big label is of course the hostesses information about the party.

So #1: every single guest brought their invitation to the party. And they were immediately asking when the invitation drawing was going to be announced. So….these people carried my invitations around for a MONTH. I’d say that is a success.

#2: One person brought TWO guests to the party. Nothing on my invitation stated anything about guests. But they accounted for $100 in extra orders. So you better believe I’ll be making a sticker and incentive for THAT from now on.

#3: TWO people brought outside orders from their friends and were ready for their free gift. Both found me as soon as they walked in. “here’s my outside order, do i still get a gift for that?” That resulted in $110 in outside orders for my hostess. I also put this flier on the inside of the mini catalog to reiterate “collect outside orders to help your hostess”. here’s the picture of that flier below:

And here’s a close up of the circle sticker on the front

I make all these labels from home. Circle stickers are 2 inch. Big label is 2×4. And I don’t know what the mini one is, but there are 60 to a sheet. So that should help:)

So long story short…mailing invitations is NOT a thing of the past. I had $200 EXTRA in orders because of my invitations that I mailed. And I have at least five hostesses a month who send me back those address labels. It’s all in your approach. It’s the FIRST thing I point out to my hostess. “this will help you increase your free product. It’s very important that you get these back to me 2 weeks before your party. AND…if you don’t know someone’s address, it’s a great way to call them and personally invite them when you get their address. A personal invite will go a long way to making someone feel like you really want them there.” That is what I tell my hostesses! And it WORKS!

I started getting addresses and mailing the invitations out for my hostesses after PowerHouse in April. It has GREATLY increased my attendance and sales. Can’t wait to start using the stickers, as well! Thanks, Melissa! You’re the BOMB!!!!

Thanks for posting this! I also send mini catalogs as invitations, and I staple a raffle ticket to each one. At the party, I do a drawing. But I’m curious — what gift do you give for guests who bring $50 in outside orders?

Do you mail the mini catalog in an envelope, or do you just seal it and mail it like that? I use the small rectangular stickers (Avery 18195 from Walmart) for return address labels, so I already have a ton of them. Thanks for sharing your amazing ideas!

Thank you for sharing this, Melissa!! I have two questions. First, would you give a gift to those who bring a friend not on the original invitation list? Second, do you use key fobs/nail files/free shipping, etc, for the gifts that you give to those who collect $50 and who bring guests? Again,thanks so much!!

yes. if they bring a guest, they get a gift. if they bring an order they get a gift.
The gifts they both get are something out of my prize bag. I have key fobs,nail files, koozies, rosette clips, and bath and body mini hand sanitizers

Melissa, What an awesome idea – I am going to try this with my next party that I am sending stuff out for tomorrow. Question though, when you say you want the hostess to mail them back to you, what do you mean by that – if they don’t use the sheet of them, they should send them back?

Melissa- could you share more about your address labels that your hostess get? They just write on the labels the name and mailing address? Anything else that you get regarding the invited guests? Their email address?